Drinking water monitoring
Drinking water monitoring is regulated under the Rules on drinking water (Official gazette of the RS no. 19/2004, 35/2004, 26/2006, 92/2006 in 25/2009). The objective is to regularly assess the compliance of drinking water with official drinking water requirements in order to protect public health from negative effects of polluted drinking water. The programme defines sampling sites, sampling frequency, sampling methodology, the physical-chemical and microbiological analyses, as well as contractors for sampling and laboratory testing. It also includes the testing of drinking water in water pipes and other places of drinking water consumption, and drinking water testing at drinking water packaging premises. In compliance with the Rules on drinking water, the Institute of Public Health Maribor was named the monitoring contractor, along with other institutes of public health and the national Institute of Public Health of the RS. The report on drinking water monitoring for 2008 was prepared by the Institute of Public Health Maribor.
The quality of water represents water’s positive characteristics. The most basic quality characteristics are taste, smell and colour, turbidity and clarity. By employing physical-chemical, chemical and microbiological analytical procedures we may also determine additional parameters of water quality, such as acidity, ion type content, oxygen content, soluble inorganic and organic constituents and the presence of various microorganisms.
Water purity is defined under purity criteria based on the assessment of the content of hazardous or harmful substances in water. The criteria depend on the knowledge on harmful effects of substances found in water on living organisms, and on the capacity of modern metering technology. People define limit values and norms to monitor and measure the presence of harmful substances for purposes of both everyday life and global communication.
Regardless of kind or use, drinking water represents a staple food. Daily requirements range between two and three litres. However, a daily intake of harmful substances may exceed the ability of a human organism for their elimination. Therefore it is of great importance for people to define strict quality and purity criteria for drinking water, which additionally reflects in sustainable treatment of human living environment.
